A Knight with no Shade
by Thelvad
Summary: After Blake dies, Jaune is stuck in a rut, and it's up to one Ruby Rose to help get him out of it.


After Blake died, Jaune threw himself into his work. Her death hit everyone hard, sure, but he and Blake and always connected in a deep way. Both of them social outcasts in their own rights, they found solace in each other, found things to do that didn't bore either of them. Of course, they never neglected their teammates, bonding with their respective partners and friends over the years, giving them all a very deep sense of familial belonging.

Yet, he had something with Blake that he couldn't find with someone else, a deeper sense of connectivity, like two halves of some greater being that had found each other. They were nearly complete opposites, Blake playing the silent but deadly role whilst Jaune generally made a loud fool of himself, but still, they certainly had their similarities.

So yes, her death impacted Jaune almost irreversibly, changing the man he was. No longer did he laugh, and rarely did he smile. JNPR tried their best, but despite their best efforts, they knew they couldn't replace what he had lost.

Blake's death came as a great shock to everyone, as the mission she went on wasn't supposed to be, a simple "Protect the Convoy" deal, something to put food in her belly and shoes on her feet. But the convoy was ambushed, by a new militant group, the Red Templars. The Templars were a fanatical group, using Dust as a means to empower themselves by any means necessary, even weaving it into their own bodies.

Blake sacrificed herself for the sake of the convoy, making use of her natural agility and superb Semblance to hold of every attacker until the civilians were safe, even managing to turn the tide against the attackers for a while, until one of them shoved a large burn crystal into his chest and detonated it right next to her. Her Aura held off most of the explosion, but it was depleted. Slowly, their numbers overwhelmed her, with no Aura left she was slowly bled dry by all the cuts she accrued throughout the battle.

After learning what had happened, Jaune led a personal crusade against the Templars, using only a select group of military specialists from Atlas to slowly destroy the group, piece by piece. After he had accomplished that goal, JNPR and RWY had hoped he would come back to them, go back to being the Jaune they knew and loved, but as always, vengeance never solved anything.

With the Templars finished, Jaune began to accept as many Hunts and possible, clearing every bit off Grimm he could find. It hurt everyone, to see him that way. They knew what he was doing, they he was thinking, even if it was subconsciously, that perhaps if he cleared darkness from the outside world, he could kill the darkness inside of him.

As the stories always showed, it didn't work. Jaune just fell deeper and deeper into the downward spiral that was his life now. He barely slept, barely ate, it was hard to find a moment where he was still, as he knew if he stopped, he would have to think. Think about what he lost, what he felt these days. He knew, deep down, that the second he stopped, he'd have to face the guilt he felt. The guilt of a man who had abandoned those who only wanted to help, of someone who constantly made the wrong decision, over and over.

He knew that Blake would never had wanted him to do this, that she would insist he go back to everyone, apologize, and forget about her. But he couldn't. He had lost part of himself when Blake died, and he had felt it. Like a punch to the gut, he felt it when her soul left the world. After all, Aura had a passive leak once someone reached their max amount they could hold, and after spending so much down time with Blake, that leakage had fused and return to each of them, placing a part of the other's soul directly into the main body of the other.

Everyone knew, of course, what Jaune's hope was. That one day, he'd take on something too hard for one man. Something too hard, perhaps, or numbers too overwhelming. They knew that he wanted to die, but he wasn't so low as to do it himself, instead he did the one thing he thought to be noble. He thought he would go out fighting humanity's greatest enemy, die a noble death, maybe be remembered as a hero.

It was after a year of this kind of life that Ruby decided enough was enough. She had seen enough of her old friend destroying himself, enough of the man that she couldn't even respect enough to call Jaune anymore. Just a hollow man with Jaune's body.

She tracked him down to a small town near Vale, a town called Nulen. She asked around for a blonde Hunter, and the locals pointed her in the direction of the nearest inn. She figured she caught him just before he found a request, a lucky break for her.

She walked in, and searched the room. The years had done her kind, she was taller, more muscular, and held a feminine charm that could sway any man into giving her anything he own. She kept her outfit with the same color scheme , but changing the clothes. She wore now a black cloth dress that stopped a couple of inches below her knees, and covered that with a red jacket and scarf. She wore leggings that covered most of her lower half, leaving naught but two inches of skin shown between the end of the dress and leggings.

Her silver eyes found their prey quick enough, the silver armor and blonde hair a clear giveaway. She approached slowly, her hand nearing the magnetic brace for her beloved Crescent Rose due to muscle memory. She quickly retracted her hand, keeping both at her side as she walked up.

"Jaune." she said, taking the stool next to him.

"Ruby." he replied, sipping his drink.

"It's been a while." she stated, resting her elbows against the bar.

"So it has." came his response, cold and seemingly uninterested.

"You know why I'm here." she spoke, turning to face him.

"And you know my answer." His tone was less cold with that statement, though the emotion that replaced was maybe even less desirable: bitterness.

"I will take you back, even if it must be by force." she threatened, her hand drifting to the weapon that never left her.

"You can try." he countered, standing up and going outside, throwing the proverbial gauntlet.

She followed him closely, noting the sunset as she stepped out, beautiful arrays of red and red streaking across the horizon, something that would have delighted her had she not been doing something so important.

"There's a field, not far from here. We will fight there. We both already know the stakes." Jaune said, leading the way, knowing Ruby would follow.

And follow she did, for about five minutes, until she saw the wide open plain before her, Jaune taking out Crocea Mors in the middle of it. Knowing it was time, she unlatched Crescent Rose, extending it to its full form.

She took her stance as Jaune did the same. Jaune had improved with time, becoming a force to reckoned with on the field, and just as deadly in strategy. He was good enough to give Ruby pause, but not for long. Jaune was good, that was true, but they both knew who would win this bout. Jaune was a great man, a terrifying warrior, but Ruby was more.

Ruby was a demon. A storm of steel and pain, a red flash that ended dozens of Grimm in less than a second. She was fast as a kid, but now she was nothing but a glimmer of red and black that outpaced everything but light. She was classified as an S-Class huntress, the youngest to ever achieve that rank, and it was not without reason. She combined sheer speed with tactical cunning and unparalleled skill with her weapon. Even Qrow had to concede to her after she bested him at the age of 17.

Ruby attacked first, her horizontal strike grabbing the edge of Jaune's shield, and with a shot, snapping it to the side, her unoccupied fist finding Jaune's cheek. He was bit more careful after that.

She took a few swings at him to see how he'd adjusted, what he'd learned, and was slightly impressed. He used his shield not only as a defensive option, but a weapon, almost catching her off guard. Almost.

Jaune was beginning to become more optimistic. After the initial hit, he had managed to block every hit, though every impact hurt like a bitch.

That's when Ruby really turned on the speed, seemingly disappearing before his very eyes, only the last rays of the sun reflecting off of Crescent Rose's blade saved him, ducking just before taking off his head.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he yelled, digging his feet into the dirt.

"You're already dead. I'm trying to bring you back to life." she replied, vanishing once more, attacking from an angle that put the sun directly in Jaune's eyes. Her first blow struck his sword arm, the second, his shield arm. The third and fourth took his legs out from under him, and the fifth blow was a kick to the back of the head, draining every bit of his extraordinary Aura in less than a second.

"You've lost. You're coming with me." she demanded, mecha-shifting Crescent Rose down to her base state before storing her.

"What's the point? I lost Blake, Ruby, I've got nothing left." Jaune said, letting his muscles relax.

"You've got Pyrrha. You've got Ren and Nora. You've got us, team RWBY." Ruby countered, giving him a light kick on the rear for being stupid.

"But she was my everything Ruby, she was everything I could never be. Confident, brave, powerful. She was a part of me, and now she's gone!" he cried, finally breaking down for the first time in a long time.

"And this is how you repay her memory? With vigilantism, depression, and hiding from the ones who love you? You would have done her a better kindness by spitting on her grave." Ruby sneered, once more giving him a kick.

"I just can't do it, Ruby. I'm not good enough to carry on her name. I wasn't even good enough to deserve her love." he replied, his voice laced with deeply rooted self-depreciation and guilt.

"Not like this you're not. But it isn't too late to change, you know. You can come back, learn to uphold her name with honor. You've fought the Grimm for too long, it's time to fight yourself you silly, stupid man." she said, getting off of him and pulling him off the ground.

"I'll try." was all he could get out, his tears stopping as he sheathed his blade.

"That's all we ask." she responded, taking his hand as he offered it, before tossing him over his shoulder and speeding off down the road as the knight tried desperately to keep his dinner where it belonged.


End file.
